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Topic: Top Chef 9 (Read 10578 times)

This episode featured James Beard Award winning chef and owner of Fearing’s of Dallas, Dean Fearing. The focus was on sauces and each of the 13 remaining chefs was assigned by knife draw to this master sauce:

Fearing had questions for several chefs on whether had had used a roux or clarified butter. It appeared that he did not like the answers he received. Dean apparently likes sauces thickened with classic roux.

The results of this were that these chefs had inferior sauces: Dakota, Nyesha, Beverly.The best sauces were by Grayson, Chris J. and Paul. Grayson was the winner and received immunity for the Elimination Challenge.

Elimination ChallengeThe group was to cater the Cattle Baron’s Baron, a fund-raising event for the American Cancer Society held at the South Fork Ranch for 200 guests. The chefs had to team up to do 4 courses, plan for 30 minutes, spend $4000 in 30 minutes at Whole Foods, prep in the Top Chef Kitchen at Le Cordon Bleu School in Dallas 3 hours, then cook the next day for 3 more hours at the South Fork kitchen. All steaks were to be served medium rare. The winner would get a 2012 Toyota Venza SUV, quite a valuable prize.

Due to the fact that Heather and Lindsay finished the cake (similar to the Quinceanera cake) during the prep period, they became expeditors responsible for the overall flow and timing of the other courses. TyLor was assigned to work outside in the 112 degree heat at the grill to mark 200 steaks after stabbing his hand and requiring stitches in a local emergency room overnight. Heather and Lindsay were to time the firing of them for finishing in the oven. This did not go well and many steaks were fired too early and cold when served. Whitney’s potato gratin was also a bit cold.The actual dishes served at the Cattle Baron’s Ball were:Course 1 - Tomato-Watermelon Gazpacho, Poached Shrimp, Avocado MousseCourse 2 - New York Strip Carpaccio, Pistachio Vinaigrette, Mushroom “Bacon”, Red Onion JamCourse 3 - Grilled Rib Eye, Creamy Potato Gratin, Braised Greens, Thyme JusCourse 4 - “Right Side Up” Texas Peach Cake, Whipped Mascarpone, Pecan Streusel

The overall response from the judges was that “we expected a lot more from 13 chefs.” One major problem was the lack of coordination on the steaks and another was Whitney’s cold and undercooked potato gratin.

The winner’s group was Chris J., Nyesha and Heather. Heather got the nod and the Venza because her cake was just that special. The loser’s group was TyLor, Whitney and Chris C. Whitney was sent home for her undercooked potato gratin.

This competition was Whitney vs. Chuy. Tom assigned them lean meat to make a classic American burger. Whitney got elk and Chuy got ostrich. They had what appeared to be 30 minutes to crate and cook. Chuy had to start over on his aioli because his first one broke. A new feature this week was that the past Last Chance Kitchen losers were present to comment and give advice to both chefs. Keith was particularly vocal, while Richie and Andrew were less so. The final composition of the burgers served was:

This episode utilizes Tim Love, owner/chef of Lonesome Dove Bistro and a Top Chef Masters 1 competitor. The Quickfire was to use various brands of Don Julio Tequila to create a dish. One wonders how much of a fee for product placement top Chef got from Don Julio. Here are the tequilas used and the dishes created:

Tim Love judged the worst dishes to be those of Heather (shrimp not properly cooked), Chris J. (chicken dry) and Sarah (risotto not a good clean dish). The best were those of Chris C., Lindsay and Ty-Lor. The prize was $5,000 although there was no immunity (for reasons which will be evident later this episode). The winner was Ty-Lor, who felt redeemed from a bottom end finish the prior episode.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGETim Love invited the chefs to cook a game dinner for some of his friends who are game-oriented chefs. These pairings were done by some osmosis not evident to the viewer:Ty-Lor/Edward – Quail for Vinny Ditolo, Los AngelesHeather/Beverly – Duck; based on the very different work styles of these chefs this was not a match made in heaven; I expected fireworks; for John Currence of Oxford MSChris C./Lindsay – Boar for Jon Shook of Los AngelesDakota/Nyesha – Venison; Dakota claimed that she has cooked venison “thousands of times” for Bryan Caswell? of HoustonGrayson/Chris J. – Elk for Tim Love of DallasSarah/Paul – Squab for Anita Low of New York City

Each pair of chefs would create and cook one course of a 6 course game dinner. Teams started by spending $200 in 30 minutes at Whole Foods. They then had 3 hours to cook at Le Cordon Bleu. The next morning they cooked again on a staggered 90 minute basis at Tim Love’s Lonesome Dove Bistro. Their creations were as follows:

The chefs had to cook enough to handle not only the guest judges and 3 regular judges (Hugh, Padma and Tom), but also all of the other 10 competing chefs.

The guest judges and regular judges picked the winning team, which was Ty-Lor (a double win) and Edward. The competing chefs had 15 minutes to select 3 teams for potential elimination. Padma had made it clear that this was a double elimination episode, so 2 chefs would be leaving. Those selections were:

Beverly/Heather – the total dish was “not together”; no surprise thereDakota/Nyesha – they knew that Dakota had cooked rare venison when it was supposed to be medium rare; would they walk the plank?Grayson/Chris J. – no reason given, but they were under the gun to pick some teamTom stated later that he felt that these were the right 3 teams to be in the figurative hot seat. He also stated that the venison was undercooked.

Heather did not wish to be judged as a team with someone who she clearly despised based on work ethic and style (during the cooking period Beverly had again attempted to hog all the stovetop space until Heather ordered her to cut it out). To me showing disunity before the judges was pure folly, but Heather did not care. She went ahead and lambasted Beverly to make the judges know that Heather might feel responsibility for some of the errors made, but she only wanted to go down by herself. Tom stated to the other judges once the teams had gone back to the stew room that they should judge on the quality of the food they ate and not on the personality conflicts of the chefs.

We came to the final phase of Judges’ Table. Beverly and Heather were criticized heavily for the disunity of their team reflecting in the disunity of the dish they presented.Nyesha and Dakota were criticized for the undercooked venison once again. Grayson and Chris go off with minor criticism, reflecting no doubt the reality that calling half of the group as Losers was a poor idea to begin with.

Dakota/Nyesha were eliminated. I felt that was the right decision from the end of the eating period.

This involves a 3-way contest between Nyesha, Dakota and Whitney. The challenge was to use cactus as a main ingredient and use only a wok for 30 minutes cooking. Nyesha is going Asian with her dish. Here are the dishes prepared and presented:

Tom sampled and made his decision. He then invited the 4 previously eliminated chefs (all male) to sample and comment. They all had fairly equivocal comments. Tom stated that his favorite dish was Nyesha’s. As she had pretty much caused Nyesha’s elimination, Dakota was very pleased Nyesha was getting another chance.

Padma started this episode with a “pack your bags; we’re moving on to Austin,” the third and last of the host cities for TC9. When the 10 remaining chefs arrived they checked into the Cattle Baton Suite at the Driskill Hotel. Then they went to the cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts where Tom Colicchio was waiting. The challenge was simple and a bit flaky: respond to avant garde Twitter technology by showing your adaptability. Tam and Padma read incoming Tweets from a selected group of Top Chef fans (who presumably were not told what was happening) and they picked a few ideas for use by the chefs. The first idea was to showcase bacon, the second was to add in hash (usually not a good combination with pork) and the third was to pick any ingredient and give it to another chef to use in his/her dish. Edward was given sriracha sauce and he was not thrilled about that. They had 45 minutes to cook.

The judging was by Tom and Padma for $10,000 but no immunity. Here were the dishes prepared and presented:

The Losers’ Group consisted of Grayson (not enough bacon), Chris J. (salty) and Ed (burned hash and too bitter). The Winners’ Group was Beverly, Sarah and Paul. Paul won the $10,000, giving him a total of $30,000 in 6 episodes. Not too shabby for him!

Elimination ChallengeThe Elimination Challenge started when the chefs were relaxing at a bar and the pianist introduced Patti LaBelle (now, what would she be doing with her famous voice singing for maybe 30 people in a bar in Austin?). Nobody seemed to catch on until Padma came out from behind the curtain and announced that Patti is a cookbook author and would be a Guest Judge along with 2 of her friends. The task was for each chef to identify their culinary inspiration and create a menu to honor that individual (this type of challenge usually comes later in a top Chef season). The chefs had the usual 30 minutes and $200 to shop for their meal preparation. Then they had 2 hours to cook.

The judges made several comments while dining on staggered groups of 2 meals:Chris J. – salmon albumen (which he knew was a problem but could not fix) disgustingChris C. – steak overcooked, far too much dillGrayson – cut of meat was stringy, not tasty Heather – dumplings dried out, meat grislyEdward – Emeril loved his bibimbapLindsay – Emeril and Padma said the roe was greatSarah – good dishTy-Lor – very good dish

The first 3 called in were Heather, Chris C. and Grayson. It appeared to me that, unlike the usual practice and to keep the chefs off balance, this would be the Losers’ Group. It was. Grayson was criticized for trying to copy her father’s recipe too closely and not adapting it to a generation later. Chris C. overseared his steak, so the judges were critical. Heather also overcooked her dumplings and her stroganoff was difficult to eat, as she had not used a pressure cooker to tenderize it and was only braising it.

The Winners’ Group was Beverly, Sarah and Edward. Emeril praised Beverly for “showing lots of technique.” Sarah was praised for her beautiful and tasty dish. Edward was praised for another beautiful dish with particularly tasty mushrooms. Sarah got the nod from the judges.

When the Judges’ Table came back to the Losers’ Group, the phrase “lack of imagination” was tagged onto Grayson. The negatives about Chris C. did not appear to be serious enough for him to be eliminated. Both Heather and Grayson were in trouble as a result of their selection of cuts of meat. Heather was the one eliminated.

The Guest Judge was Nathan Myhrvold, author of the $625 6 volume 52 pound cookbook Modernist Cuisine. He was Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer and he is the founder of the globally respected “Intellectual Ventures” think tank. The Quickfire was for the chefs to create the best modernist cuisine dish in 30 minutes. The winner would get the cookbook plus immunity. The dishes created and presented were:

Myhrvold rated as worst dishes Paul (insufficient depth of flavor), Beverly and Grayson (too simple). The best were Ty-Lor (a watermelon with tapioca maltodextrin), Beverly and Chris J. (an intense flavor bean that turned the following lemon flavor into tangerine flavor). The winner of immunity and the cookbook was Ty-Lor.

Elimination ChallengeThese teams were created by chefs banding together:RED – Ty-Lor, Ed, SarahWHITE – Chris C., Chris J., BeverlyBLUE – Grayson, Paul, WhitneyThe task was to cook plates for 300 guests at the Salt Lick Restaurant consisting of beef brisket BBQ, pork ribs BBQ and chicken BBQ plus 2 side dishes. Each team had $1000 at Whole Foods and $1000 at Restaurant Depot (primarily for meat) to buy in 30 minutes at each place. The teams were given a demonstration of the inside BBQ pit of the Salt Lick by its owner, but they were actually cooking all night and the next morning outside in the broiling Texas heat at the Onion Creek outside BBQ pits. Tom Colicchio came by to tell them that the winning team would get $15,000 to split. The mentality of Top Chef producers to force chefs to show that they can “do whatever it takes” may be misplaced when no sleep and heat prostration become critical. It backfired when Sarah got heat prostration and had to be taken away by an EMT to a local hospital, to return only as the judges arrived for sampling the RED team’s plate.

The RED team was using Ty-Lor’s Kansas City-style dry rub. The WHITE team used Chris J.’s beer can style chicken and Dr. Pepper in the ribs. The BLUE team was using Asian spices on its BBQ. Will that sell in Texas?

The BLUE team was judged the winner for doing a first-class job of cooking and seasoning the meats.

Comments by the judges at JUDGES TABLE were:WHITE – too salty due to Chris C. marinades and sauces for all the meats, meat cooking by Chris J. not done correctly, a number of mistakes made by Beverly, including cole slaw that was neither acidic enough nor original enough, beans undercooked and chicken skin not crisp enoughRED – ribs chewy, Sarah’s chicken poorly done, Ty-Lor and Ed did not get it done, partly a result of his decision to slice his meat too early

In the final analysis, the judges believed that there were plenty of mistakes for each and every one of these 6. Ty-Lor was immune or he might have been eliminated. The worst was judged to be Chris C.

Top Chef has really taken quite a huge recognition with being able to come up with big names for the culinary industry but seems to have lost quite its touch in terms of audience turnover. I think that the drama some shows are able to bring out though nothing really contributing to the show is enough to sway viewers to other shows. I am talking about Hell's Kitchen and though it attacks the topic differently has taken some ranks higher.

DavidJunior

Hell's Kitchen is the most ridiculous reality competition show that I've seen

The fact that you can be on the winning team and still get eliminated solely because the head (only) judge felt like it/doesn't like you is completely ludicrous. There is no rhyme or reason to the structure of the eliminations.

If I wanted to watch someone pick and choose who stays in such a way, I'd watch the Bachelor (which I don't)

Back on topic of Top Chef, I loved this week's episode, especially due to the elimination

Overall, however I feel like this season has been kinda blah... No more team tasks please!

Hell's Kitchen is the most ridiculous reality competition show that I've seen

The fact that you can be on the winning team and still get eliminated solely because the head (only) judge felt like it/doesn't like you is completely ludicrous. There is no rhyme or reason to the structure of the eliminations.

If I wanted to watch someone pick and choose who stays in such a way, I'd watch the Bachelor (which I don't)

Back on topic of Top Chef, I loved this week's episode, especially due to the elimination

Overall, however I feel like this season has been kinda blah... No more team tasks please!

DavidJunior,

Your comment is mostly about Hell's Kitchen, so I will deal with that first:Yes, Gordon Ramsay is the only judge of anything significant on HK (although he does sometimes bring in celebrity judges for the challenges). This has the potential to be arbitrary. However, please cite me a few instances in 9 seasons of Hell's Kitchen where a truly bad elimination was made.

For Top Chef Ty-Lor had been winning some Quick-Fires and Elimination Challenges, so I did not expect that he would be next out. I agree with you on team tasks, as they do put some chefs at a disadvantage since frequently they still have to create at least one dish and depend on another chef to cook it.

For those interested in more information on both series, I can recommend these books(both available through www.amazon.com):Chef Wars: Hell's KitchenChef Wars: Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Top Chef-Just Desserts

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DavidJunior

Okay, none of the eliminations were bad necessarily... I just get annoyed as a viewer that you could be on the winning team and still go home. If the competitor was truly that bad they would screw it up for their team eventually and then you could boot them, or wait until it gets to be more of an individual competition, so you can get rid of them when they start floundering there.

I don't know, I just like it to be more structured and by the books. The show is just too free-flowing in the elimination department for me to truly enjoy it

I've been behind but catching up. I've enjoyed watching this season because it's been filmed in Texas and especially San Antonio and Austin. I need to watch Restaurant Wars and then I'll be all caught up.

There was no Quickfire, as this episode was to create your own pop-up restaurant. The teams were the 4 male chefs versus the 4 female chefs. The ultimate goal was Restaurant Wars, to create a 3 course meal for 100. Many steps were required first. Menus were created and the restaurant named (The Canteen for the men and Half Bushel for the women). There were 2 teams of 4 each and they sent a subset to Whole Foods with $4000 to be spent in 1 hour and another to Sur La Table to buy furniture and fixtures with $7500. The furniture and fixtures had to be delivered and the individual designated by each team (Edward and Lindsay) as Front of the House had to oversee the process of turning the former dining room of the Palme D’Or into their dining room. Making it presentable was completed just in time. The men cooked first and the women dined, then they swapped roles. I want to note that both Edward and Lindsay still had responsibility for one menu item even though they could not actually cook it, requiring delegation to someone else. Teams were having the kitchen at quite separate times, with the opportunity to eat their competition’s food.

I don’t quite see how Lindsay will have a hand in 3 dishes plus act as Front of the house, but she didn’t ask me. During the male kitchen stint, the question of who would expedite came up, but it was never resolved satisfactorily. Lindsay tried to cheat back in the kitchen, but this resulted in poor communications from the dining room. Sarah speared to be personally attacking Beverly in the dish selection process and during cooking.

The men had better service, but the women better food. They won and Beverly was the individual winner of a 3 Liter bottle of a gourmet wine plus a trip for 2 to Napa Valley to personally check out vineyards. One of the men will be going home.

The judges (Tom, Hugh, Padma, Emeril) found plenty to criticize from each of the men’s dishes:Ty-Lor – major seasoning issuesChris J. – his dessert was a messEdward – stayed out of trouble doing a good job as Front of HousePaul – greasy brioche So that left the judges with no alternative but to eliminate Ty-Lor.

One thing I believed would happen before this episode finished was the elimination of a female chef to even the male/female ratio at 3 to 3.

The Quickfire used as Guest Judge the venerable Eric Ripert. It was a difficult challenge that tested the chefs’ abilities to make quick decisions. A fast-moving conveyor belt delivered a constantly changing array of ingredients. Eric Ripert stated that there was a basic tradeoff, since the best ingredients would arrive relatively late and delaying cooking may not be the best approach. Some chefs “waited for it” and some did not. The chefs had 30 minutes to select and cook. Each chef had to use 3 ingredients to make a sophisticated dish:

Ripert rated these dishes in the Worst category: Chris J. (it did not come together), Grayson, Paul. He rated as Best before her disqualification for a rules violation Beverly’s dish. That meant that between Lindsay and Sarah Lindsay was the winner of immunity for the Elimination Challenge.

Elimination ChallengeThe task was a gothic feast for a dark queen demanding indulgence and risk taking. The chefs had 2 hours to create one dish out of a 7 course menu for a dark Queen, specifically the only being played by actress Charlize Theron in the movie Snow White and the Huntsman. She arrived to be another Guest Judge with Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Emeril Lagasse and Eric Ripert. The chefs felt totally inspired cooing for an A-list actress who is also a foodie.

The comments of the diners were really positive for all chefs:Edward – sauce excellent, tartare very good, perfect manifestation of good vs. evilPaul – beautiful and scaryBeverly – forbidden rice great, fish cooked perfectlyLindsay – scallops were perfectionSarah – flavorfulGrayson – vinegar for beets perfect Chris J. – center of his pie was perfectly cooked but moistSo all the chefs had dishes that were way above average in quality. Who would win and who would lose? Paul’s dish was judged to be best, so he won a trip for 2 to the premier of Snow White and the Huntsman. Lindsay, Edward and Chris J. were all excused for exemplary performance. The group of just really good performances was Beverly, Sarah and Grayson. In spite of being told that her rice was perfect and her fish perfect, Beverly’s dish had sticky sauces. Sarah’s risotto was overcooked. Grayson had greens oversalted and with foie gras disconnected from the rest of the dish. Beverly was eliminated.

Did you notice that this takes the male to female chef ratio to 3:3 as I expected.

This pitted reigning champion Nyesha against Beverly. The challenge started off as a simple “go get all your ingredients and cooking implements in one pass because you will not get another chance” with black drum as the fish to cook in 30- minutes. Tom asked the peanut gallery of fully eliminated chefs (most of whom had lost to Nyesha) who they thought would win and it appeared unanimous for Nyesha. Both Nyesha and Beverly expressed self-confidence. However, a short time after starting Tom called for a twist, to have each chef switch stations, leaving everything behind. So Beverly was cooking with Nyesha’s original ingredients and Nyesha with Beverly’s. These are the dishes created and presented:

Tom asked Nyesha if Beverly’s finished dish was “what Nyesha had had in mine?” She replied no. Tom stated that the pineapple chutney was superb. However, Nyesha’s dish was slightly underseasoned. Victory went to Beverly.

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DavidJunior

Was personally a little sad that Beverly got eliminated, although she was pretty inconsistent and a little haphazard

And I was really sad to see her beat Nyesha, I wanted to see her make it back in the competition, but as they always say, pride comes before the fall, and Nyesha was a little over-confident going into this last chance kitchen

I haven't liked the way Beverly has been treated, there's been no respect for her at all. Every year there is someone who is disregarded and not given a voice, this was/is her year. I know the answer is to speak up and make your self heard. Right! Never happens. I am surprised that she beat Nyesha in the Last Chance challenge.

I've been trying to figure out why this season hasn't been as good for me. It's not the quality of the chefs, I think it's because so many of the scenes are in dark places, like the Driskill hotel and some of the other dining rooms, not to mention the last challenge. I also felt bad for them having to cook out doors because we not only had a major drought but 100º + heat when this was filmed.

It's time for me to make a fearless prediction on the outcome of Top Chef 9. Let's start with who I expect the next two eliminees to be. That would be Grayson and Chris Jones. The next tier eliminated is likely to be Edward and Sarah. That leaves the two fighting for the title as Lindsay and Paul. It will be Paul with a clearcut victory. I have actually felt that he would win for about the last 6 episodes.

There are 6 chefs remaining, so they are paired up with an unstated logic (or maybe just as they were standing next to each other) for a Quickfire with a $10,000 per team prize. Cat Cora was the Guest Judge, probably to allow Bravo product placement on a new “Around the World in 80 Plates” series with her and Curtis Stone starting in May 2012. The Quickfire task was for a pair in 40 minutes to shell, devein and butterfly 2 pounds of shrimp, create and roll out 1 pound of fettucine and cut a reasonable portion of corn kernels off a bushel full of ears. A team could not move on to cooking until they finished all the mise en place tasks. The quickest team was not able to start cooking until only 10 minutes left. All teams attempted to rest their pasta dough before rolling and cutting the fettucine.

Paul distracted himself with frills and failed to get the shrimp onto the plate, so that team was disqualified. Chris and Grayson were the winners, very possibly because Cat Cora did not like the overuse of tarragon by Lindsay and Sarah.

ELIMINATION CHALLENGEPadma explained that there was a Healthy Choice outdoor Block Party event for 200 contributors to the San Antonio Food Bank that was to focus on the company name, healthy choices and have an end product that was light and low calorie but still fully tasty. The pairs were split into competing duos, with the one in each duo with the most “customer” votes sent to the winning group. The prize of $15,000 would be given to the best dish from the 3 winners. Each duo had to agree on the overall concept that would guide both their dishes. Those were:

From that point, the competitor mode took over. Each individual had $600 and 40 minutes to shop at the Broadway Market. Lindsay went with lamb and veal for her meatballs while Sarah went with turkey. Chris went with tofu emulsion instead of mayonnaise. Edward substituted for ketchup a kimchi/chipotle blend. Grayson elected to make each serving to order, which slowed down her service a great deal but led to better freshness and probably also flavor. Lindsay substituted chickpea flour for regular flour. Teams had 2.5 hours to cook and then an additional 45 minutes to set up.

The panel of judges deciding was Cat Cora, Padma, Tom and Emeril. Dana Cowin joined to sample comment only. Ryan Scott from Top Chef 4 was there representing Healthy Choice and he sampled and commented too.

The close pairing was between Lindsay and Sarah. Lindsay won that pairing to be considered by the judges against Paul and Grayson. It was Paul by a mile, winning $15,000. That left the other 3 chefs to be considered for elimination from the losers’ group. Comments on them were:

Ed – short rib fat was trimmed off and that was the best part; tough; chewyChris – should have made it to order to be competitiveSarah – salad inconsistent (Tom liked it, Dana did not)

It was clear from the tone of the comments that Sarah would be safe from elimination. The decision was between Chris and Edward. Chris was judged less worthy, with the overview that he scurried around with great ideas but failed in his execution.

This was Beverly versus Chris J. Each had a cook a meal from all of the ingredients contained in a first mystery box, then a second one and finally a third one. Those ingredients were:LambPine NutsParsnipsCinnamonMarshmallowsOrange AppleCeleryRadicchio ParsleyWhite anchovy

You can watch this at http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-9/top-chef-healthy-showdown. The first and second episodes are there and the string of episodes 3, 4 and 5 will just automatically load afterward.The first episode was a Quickfire with one elimination. the second episode was Elimination Challenge cooking followed by 3 minutes of faux on-camera explanation of how to make that dish, with another elimination. Episode 3 was the finale cooking. Episodes 4 and 5 were the discussion of that.

I will tell you that the winner of $25,000 plus being awarded the position of Healthy Choice Ambassador (which was obvious if you observed TC9, Episode 9) was Ryan

The Guest Judge for this episode was Pee-Wee Herman, who really qualifies as a foodie. His favorite food is pancakes, so that was what the chefs had to cook. They had 20 minutes to wow him and chose these dishes for a $5000 prize:

This is a strange and difficult one. The chefs had to find and buy with $100 ingredients and then cook a family-style meal for Pee-Wee and the judges, but they have to bike around town finding those ingredients and borrowing kitchens for prep space. Only one chef can use any kitchen at one time. 3 hours were provided for self-transport, buying ingredients, negotiating with a place to cook and actually cooking there.

Paul chose a Belgian-Thai bistro. Ed went to a bed-and-breakfast. Grayson went to the Mexican restaurant Rosario’s. Lindsay needed additional ingredients so she left Mad Hatters, the site of her cooking, to get them; in the interim Sarah found that place and claimed it. Lindsay had to find Frank’s Hog Stand. The dishes created for serving at The Alamo were:

Based on the Judges’ Table discussion, you would conclude that Edward would be eliminated but, as frequently the case, you would be wrong. Top Chef producers delight in misleading by withholding information.

Lindsay won and Paul was safe. That left the elimination decision between Grayson, Sarah and Edward. Grayson was eliminated. Tom admitted to the 4 remaining chefs that a 5th would be joining them from “a parallel competition.”